


Coherence

by Control_Room



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Dimensions, Angst, Fear, Fusions, Knives, Lies, Minor Violence, Psychological Trauma, lying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 03:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17418557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: He really should have thought twice about doing anything that would have made the fusion mad. He already was emotionally unstable, he should have just been obedient and stayed by his side.___Anonymous - 29 = A reason that they lied to a friendthis story was in development before I got this ask, but it fits it very well :).Chestnut is the fusion of @halfusek‘s joey magenta and @startistdoodles‘s joey hyde, (both on tumblr) and since there is not much on the fusion yet, I’ve made them as shitty as possible, though I love them :).





	Coherence

_Stand your ground_ , Johan steeled himself, bracing himself for the monstrosity he knew was to come.  _Don’t let him get past you_.

He could not stop the squeak of terror that escaped his lips when Johan saw his shadow.

“Where are you,” he snarled, head slowly moving back and forth, a beast stalking its prey. Johan sucked in a breath as he watched him toss his knives ever so gently. “Come on out….”

“No,” he hated how his voice wavered and cracked. “You need to find me. We’re playing a game of…  _hyde_ and seek.”

The man growled audibly. Johan held his breath within his lungs, burning like fire.

“Enough of your shi-… silly puns!”

“Someone’s going  _nutty_.”

“Johan! I’m going to-” the man caught himself, inhaling sharply, running a hand through dark brown hair. Johan closed his eyes tightly when he began to speak again, with such a beautiful soft tone. “Johan, come out here, I want to see you, Johan, sweetie….”

Johan grinned from his hiding place. Chestnut may have been clever, horrifically cunningly so, but not enough.

Magenta was too soft to give him a pet name.

It gave him a bit of determination, and a bit of fear.

The determination stemmed from the resolve that Hyde and Magenta were so closely merged that Magenta would not recognize him and he would be able to fight him without hurting them.

On the other hand, he had hoped to settle this peacefully, without anyone getting hurt at all, and he wanted to be able to reason with Magenta to calm the both of the fusion.

“I don’t want to have to do this, Johan,” the man that once was his friend and the other that had been his darling growled, more animalistic and bloodthirsty than Johan had ever heard. He trembled. He heard the sound of something charging up, and he realized what it was too late – and the zap from the powersurge went straight to him. He would not be able to hide anymore, firstly from the literal bolt of electricity that had gone directly to him leading a path, and secondly from the scream that tore from him after the lightning shot through him, bouncing through his limbs, hitting each and every nerve in his body. Oh. So Magenta was there. Only he knew about that, the way electricity just seemed to strike him despite his location. The pain was unbearable, and he saw blackness pulse at his vision. Chestnut’s semi angered, semi sadistic, grin came into view. “Found you.”

He slowly, delicately, like a skilled hunter, picked Johan up by his wrist. His head felt heavy. He could make out the blown fuse behind Chestnut, clearly the one he used to shock him.

“This pathetic thing?” Chestnut paused and laughed. “This weak thing?”

Johan groaned in pain.

“Look at me, dear,” Chestnut purred, and Johan hated how volatile he was, how he could go from taunting him to demanding sweet nothings. He could not lift his head. “I said. Look. At. Me.”

A knife was pressed to the underside of his chin, dragging his head up.

“I thought you were on my side, and yet, you go off to darling Snowy and warn him of our coming,” he hummed, using another blade to gently trace over Johan’s skin on his face. A nick slipped against his cheek, warm blood beading out. Johan’s breath hitched. Magenta knew he was afraid of his own blood. Was Hyde doing this? Was Magenta? Were neither? Or, the worst, both? The knife on his chin shifted, resting him on the very tip. Breathe. He probably is not going to kill him. Breathe. “Dearest little Johan, do you forget who I am? You know me….”

“You’re neither of the men I care for,” he forced, putting as much venom into the words as he could, knowing what he was getting himself into. Another knife slit his shirt, right beside his pin, the cold metal pressed to the skin of his chest. Hyde kept looking directly at him, half closed eyed meeting Johan’s terrified ones. The icy blade turned ever so slightly, slowly pushing against his flesh, right between his ribs, like a butcher that knew exactly where to slice the sheep. Magenta flashed in those dark green eyes, followed by a rapid Hyde, then back to both. Johan’s eyes widened, getting the message. “O-oh god… no, please, I didn’t mean t-to….”

“Neither? Tsk, frankly, I’m offended,” the knife under his chin twisted, tugging at his skin. Johan moaned in fear, unable to do anything else, his arm numb from being held up by it, ink dripping and seeping into is clothes from the claw that restrained him, his toes barely brushing the floor, and yet they could raise him even higher with nary an effort to it. “Johan, do you really think I ever even entertained the idea of caring about you? Either of I?”

“I… I….” hoped. Wanted. Begged. Silently worshiped. Vocalized praise. Loved. Loved. Loved, adored, cared for, loved… did he still love them? Did he still want to sing Magenta’s name and poeticize his beauty and perfection from the rafters of the city, so all could know them? Did he still want to gently care for and be there for Hyde, be beside him on his worst days and help him get through them? Could he still love them? He hated himself for the answer, dropping his head. He did. He did, so badly. He would let them do whatever they wanted to him. His throat felt thick and he whimpered. “I know I’m not worth anything to you.”

A smirk slowly inched onto Chestnut’s lips, and he leaned to whisper in his ear.

“You are worth something,” Johan felt chills race over his skin as he swallowed roughly. “You are going to be worth your pathetic, delicious screams and cries when I rip your skin to bits. Every single peep will be so refreshing, a sweet toy that won’t fight back. I won’t kill you, dear Johan, oh no, we don’t want to ruin our wonderful toy, torn right to the brink, and left to heal up. Over and over, you’d like that, wouldn’t you, you masochist?”

“I’m not a toy,” he snapped, feeling anger seep into his thoughts. “I am not a masochist.”

“Oh, Johan,” the thing’s lips and teeth were right on the side of his neck. “So sweet, so naive….”

“I said I was sorry, for telling Snowy,” he was sorry for getting caught while telling Snowy. By the growing grin on Chestnut’s face, he knew that. Johan sobbed, feeling his tears scratch at his throat and eyes, sorrow welling up at not being able to protect either half of the fusion, only bringing more pain. “I’m s-sorry….”

“You’re not forgiven, darling.”

The knife twisted.

* * *

Johan breathed.

It was not harsh.

It was not eased.

He was just breathing.

His whole body ached.

He hoped Snowy got away when he warned him.

He hoped Gingie and many others were alright.

And he begged that Hyde and Magenta were not really in control of Chestnut.

He had too many scars for one so young.

They had not added any more, not yet.

Scratches here and there.

Nothing but superficial damage.

His arm throbbed, his wrist burned.

It was tied, tight, to something.

He could not tell what, his head hurt too much.

The door slammed open, a shuffling footstep entering.

Johan winced and curled up, whimpering.

“Good news, darling,” Chestnut murmured, so loud in the empty house. “I’ve found out where Snowy and Gingie are.”

“No!” Johan shot up, ignoring his pain, launching himself at Chestnut. The man smiled down at him when his shackles restrained him, hands outstretched to fight him. Johan struggled and strained against the metal fetters. Tears welled in his eyes. “NO!”

“Hush, Johan,” Chestnut sat to smoke, his long limbs sprawled over the armchair, lazily looking over the incapacitated man. Johan pulled harder at his bindings, gritting his teeth. Chestnut chuckled. “You’re not getting those off for a while, dear.”

 _Snap_.

Chestnut’s eyes flew open.

Johan smiled, exhausted, at him, his chain dragging on the floor off the wall it had been lashed to.

“That’s a Joey’s biggest enemy,” he grabbed the chain, preparing to fight. “Comedic timing.”

“You piece of fourth wall breaking shit!” Chestnut roared, leaping to his feet, his cigarette falling from his fingers and extinguishing on the way to the floor. Yet before it even made it to the ground, the chain whistled through the air. Chestnut rose an arm to block it, it winding around said arm. Johan had the other end in his hand before he could blink, wrapping it tightly around his other left arm, yanking it over his head, tying off the last two arms together. Chestnut was slammed to the floor, knocking the wind out of him. “Johan! Release me right this instant!”

“No!” Johan protested, gritting his teeth. “YOU! Unfuse right this instant!”

“Unfuse?” Chestnut echoed in a grunt, still trying knock him off. “Whatever do you mean?”

Johan felt his breathing freeze.

They had forgotten themselves.

“H-Hyde?”

“From what!?”

“Hyde Drew, please, please tell me you’re in there,” he was shaking. No, he screwed up, not again, not again, he kept fucking things up…. No response. He sobbed. “Magenta? Please….”

The fusion beneath him was perfectly still. He got off of him. It was pointless. He fucked up again. He waited for them to stab him then and there. Instead, he just rose himself off the floor, staring at Johan. Johan, shaking, hugged him over the shoulders, buried his face in his hair, and breathed in their combined smell, ignoring the putrid ink.

“I’m sorry,” he cried, shuddering. “I’m sorry…. Maggie, please, I miss you… Hyde, you grumpy old man, I want you back… come back, please remember who you are….”

“Johan?”

“Yes…?”

Four arms wrapped around him.

Two and two.

They slowly separated.

Two for one, two for another.

“Johan.”

“Johan.”

He did not dare open his eyes.

“Johan, it’s me….”

“Maggie,” he sniffed, crying into his hands. “Please….”

Gentle, hesitant, choppy circles being rubbed on his back.

“Johan,” Hyde’s barely lower and more gravely tones were slow and deliberate. “Johan, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he murmured, relaxing against air, his shoulders slumping. “Jus’… I’m so tired.”

“Johan, we never would have hurt you if we were in control,” Magenta assured him, helping him to his feet and leading him to a bed, Hyde on the other side of him. Johan gripped them both. “What? You clearly have something to sa-”

“Never fuse again,” he breathed. “Not you two together, that is. You forced Gingie and Snowy into hiding, you nearly killed Felix, you attacked so many others, and you… you went directly after me… please never do that again.”

“Of course,” Hyde promised, his fingers crossed behind his back. Johan studied his face with his weary amberesque eyes. He closed his eyes, so tired… he wished he could sleep forever…. “We, I repeat for both of us, never would have done all that we had done if we were in control of ourself and knew what our actions where doing.”

“Okay,” Johan exhaled, putting no effort into his word. “I’ll sleep now….”

Magenta waited for him to fall asleep before going out to meet Hyde in the dining room.

“Well?” he asked Hyde, cocking an eyebrow. “Enough of a power mongering spree yet?”

Hyde scowled.

“You and I both know you were fully coherent,” he snapped at him. Magenta narrowed his eyes at him. “So don’t try to pin this on me.”

“You also were in control,” Magenta grumbled, keeping his angered tones low. “Don’t you dare blame me.”

“Oh, so what are we going to do?” Hyde rolled his eyes. “Keep up the lie that we lost ourselves in it? Oh, sure, that might fly by Gingie, but by someone more perceptive? I doubt it. Even Johan isn’t an idiot. I’m certain that he’s giving us the benefit of the doubt, poor boy.”

“Poor boy!?” Magenta’s anger lashed out. “You’re the one that wanted to see how far we could push him!”

“You’re the one who provided the information on how to do it.”

“Listen,” Magenta pinched the bridge of his nose. “The important thing is that, no matter what, Johan never,  _ever_ , learns of our…you know. Our awareness. The fact we were coherent.”

“Agreed.”

 

They never did tell him the truth.

 

 

They did not need to.

 

 

 

He already knew.

 

 

 

 

_He knew._

 

 

 

 

 

**_Johan knew._ **


End file.
